Rapper: I Wouldn't Help Police Catch A Serial Killer

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
I'd like to expand on the examples given by ImpliedChaos. When rappers make political commentary, why is it racist? Public enemy rapped about the state of affairs suffered by the black population in America. What else are they supposed to rap about?

It's no different than Trent Reznor singing about using heroin, or Merl Haggard singing about beating on his wife.

too true lol. i think,(my personal opinion) that the in your face reality of the composition's contents is what offends ppl. they are just not used to the presentation. there is no implied/hidden truth in the music to make it palatable to the general audience, it is raw(what you see is how it really is) and it may be a little too real and can't be romanticized.

(to get back to the racist part of the post) if the story teller comes from an environment where there is racism that is what is going to be related in the telling of their stories(all artists, if they are credible, are writing from experience or first hand information).

sorry for going off topic but the point was a good one.

nothing could matter less than this guys "code". this guy is the manilli vanilli of rap, this time next year he'll be on surreal life

Interesting develpments are starting on this issue

Russell Simmons, Al Sharpton, NAACP Urge Rap/Hip-Hop Censorship

Its sort of strange how russel simmons is seating high and mighty when he signed some of these acts to his label. I have lost some respect for him. I honestly think its not going to work 1)the music too popular 2) censorship never works...all of the songs are all ready censored when they come on the radio now they want to tell the artists what the CAN and CAN NOT write about if you dont like the music dont buy the Cd and turn the channel

Originally posted by ImpliedChaos
I honestly think its not going to work 1)the music too popular 2) censorship never works...all of the songs are all ready censored when they come on the radio now they want to tell the artists what the CAN and CAN NOT write about

Censorship will work though. If the FCC made the use of the words illegal on the air they could slap a hefty fine on the radio stations each time they played the song.

Just a few years ago Dale Earhart swore on the radio and it cost him the race,so yes censorship will and does work.

What about the first amendment

too bad we don't have people with the balls like zappa that would get in front of the senate and the pmrc committee. debate censorship on records and own them.

i am not for cenorship at all. i hate censorship. i think censorship should be left to be done in the home.
i don't need the fc/gov regulating what comes through my tv/radio. i am perfectly capable of changing the dial and using the o so easy parental controls.

still waiting to see if the people that advocate this no snitching code feel that snitching on a guy that just grabbed a tv or snitching on say who started the fight is a bit different than alerting the law to a serial murderer.
sorry but IMO, whoever can not distinguish the difference between the two is an absolute moron. i get the silence code. i'm not 'from the streets' but i've been around. i don't talk to the cops. i didn't see anything.

serial killers though man...come on.

Originally posted by shots


Censorship will work though. If the FCC made the use of the words illegal on the air they could slap a hefty fine on the radio stations each time they played the song.

Just a few years ago Dale Earhart swore on the radio and it cost him the race,so yes censorship will and does work.

Not for this type of music...hip hop is too underground for censorship to control it. Sure it may limit it being played on mtv (bet wont stop playing it)maybe the radio...so certain types of audiences wont hear it BUT 99% of these popular songs were hot on the internet or mixtapes and alot of people heard them WAY before they became commercially successful through video or radio. So IMO it wont work.

Originally posted by ImpliedChaos
So IMO it wont work.

Do you realize 20 years ago it might have been 30 the exact time frame is not really important that you could get arrested for using profanity in public? Back then common street profanity that is used daily now it was against the law to use them in public. Technically it still is; walk into a bar where they have a sign posted that says no swearing allowed and see what happens when the owner calls the police on you if you swear.


Don't say it wouldn't work because I know it has in the past. The FCC still has strong rules about the use of profanity on the air waves and yes radio stations could be fined if they wanted because the laws are there to do so.

I think you proved my point it was illegal and look what happened....You said in some places it still is illegal and i dont hear people being arrested for it. BUT i am saying this is different because this is HIP HOP. Like i said before most of these songs are popular WAY before they come to video/radio. AND do you really think that BET is going 100% stop playing these songs? I think not.There is too much money in this music.

Originally posted by ImpliedChaos
I think you proved my point it was illegal and look what happened....You said in some places it still is illegal and i dont hear people being arrested for it.

You just are not looking in the right places, check the police blotters posted in the back of the papers. The only reason you do not see them mentioned on the front pages is because the media feels they are not worthy of coverage but they are out there.

Here is one example

March 10
Disturbance: A Neenah man was charged with disorderly conduct after using profanity and otherwise threatening parties involved in a traffic crash near the U.S. 41-W. College Avenue interchange.

[edit on 4/29/2007 by shots]

He was Threatening people so yeah..he's going to be arrested. But if your talking to your friend and say 'oh sh...' or 'what the f.... was that about' ...you are not going to get arrested ...unless your yelling it at people or otherwise disturbing the peace

I understand what you are trying to say..but IMO hip hop is totally diff. situation. It doesnt need the radio or tv. ...Big corporations make to much money off of it... it They may try to censor but it wont last for long...Its kind of like when back in the day 2 Live Crew got in trouble..

As Nasty As They Wanna Be (1989) became the group's biggest hit, largely because of the single "Me So Horny", which was popular in spite of little radio play, thanks, in part, to prevalent play on MTV. The song was based on a quote from a Vietnamese prostitute in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket and took a sample from Mass Production's Firecracker.

The American Family Association did not think the presence of a "Parental Advisory" sticker was enough to adequately warn listeners of what was inside the case. Jack Thompson, a lawyer affiliated with the AFA, met with Florida Governor Bob Martinez and convinced him to look into the album to see if it met the legal classification of "obscene." It was decided in 1990 that action should be taken at the local level and Nick Navarro, Broward County sheriff received a ruling from Judge Mel Grossman that probable cause for obscenity violations existed. Navarro warned record store owners that selling the album may be prosecutable. 2 Live Crew filed a suit against Navarro. That June, Judge Jose Gonzalez ruled against the album, declaring it obscene and illegal to sell. Charles Freeman, a local retailer, was arrested two days later, after selling a copy to an undercover police officer. This was followed by the arrest of three members of 2 Live Crew after they performed some material from the album at a performance. They were acquitted soon after. In 1992, a Court of Appeals overturned the obscenity ruling from Jose Gonzales, and the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear Broward County's appeal. A notable feature of the case was the distinguished literary critic and now Harvard University professor, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. as an "expert witness" on behalf of the defendants. He argued that the material that the county alleged was profane, actually had important roots in African-American vernacular games and literary traditions and should be protected.
As a result of the controversy, As Nasty As They Wanna Be sold over two million copies.

Wikipedia

[edit on 4/29/2007 by ImpliedChaos]

Originally posted by ImpliedChaos
I understand what you are trying to say..but IMO hip hop is totally diff. situation. It doesnt need the radio or tv. ...Big corporations make to much money off of it... it They may try to censor but it wont last for long...

Chaos you are forgetting one very important thing if stores do not stock it they cannot sell it. Take Walmart for instance (there are others) they have taken it upon themselves and rightfully so not too sell certain books, games etc, that they do not like. You also know what would happen if you use profanity on ATS you might get a warn at first but continued offenses will get you banned. So do not come along and say censorship will not work because it will if people take a on a higher set of morals and just say no to the music as ATS has to the use of profanity on it's site.

censorship is definately not the answer......how could that possiby make anything better? i don't get it...

would yuu not rather be a big boy and decide for yourself what you can listen to???what your kids listen to?

newsflash dude, if they stopped selling this cameron dudes cd's or whatever, you'd start seeing trunks full of rips for $5 a piece and people will buy them that way...with the net, the songs will always be out there...things do not spread like they did 20 years ago...

i'm more for this dudes code of the street than i am for censorship

Originally posted by shots
Chaos you are forgetting one very important thing if stores do not stock it they cannot sell it.

I haven't bought a CD in a store since 1998.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420


I haven't bought a CD in a store since 1998.

Sorry I cannot refuse the opportunity you have presented me with. Did you get them at a five finger discount store?

Just kidding of course and I realize there are other sources you can get them from. My point was and still is though if no one carried them you could not buy them.

Even still, Most of the money these guys make doesn't come from CD sales. They get most of it through concerts and touring. If they got banned, or their CDs stopped being sold, then they would just get more cred, and more people would want to see them.

Besides, burning books, banning books, whatever, it's anyone's place to tell someone what they can listen to, read, watch, or otherwise enjoy.

Originally posted by Boondock78
censorship is definately not the answer......how could that possiby make anything better? i don't get it...

I disagree and apparently so do Sharpton and others who are joining the band wagon to stop this kind of music.

Had you lived during an era where profanity was not allowed you could better understand how it can be better. Trust me it was.

Have you ever noticed how most violence is brought on by the use of profanity? Do not use it and talking civil will go a long way at least it did back in the 40s through the 60s and early 70s.

Originally posted by shots
I disagree and apparently so do Sharpton and others who are joining the band wagon to stop this kind of music.

Sharpton and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of things. This is just another example

Had you lived during an era where profanity was not allowed you could better understand how it can be better. Trust me it was.

You know, the 'good ol' days' were never as good as we tend to remember them. Especially when looking back through nostalgic eyes.

Have you ever noticed how most violence is brought on by the use of profanity? Do not use it and talking civil will go a long way at least it did back in the 40s through the 60s and early 70s.

Weren't 6 million Jews killed in the 40s?
And saying that profanity had any effect on violence is ridiculous. It's a logical fallacy known as questionable cause.

This fallacy has the following general form:

1. A and B are associated on a regular basis.
2. Therefore A is the cause of B.

The general idea behind this fallacy is that it is an error in reasoning to conclude that one thing causes another simply because the two are associated on a regular basis. More formally, this fallacy is committed when it is concluded that A is the cause of B simply because they are associated on a regular basis. The error being made is that a causal conclusion is being drawn from inadequate evidence.

[edit on 30-4-2007 by Rasobasi420]

Walmart stopped selling unedited versions a while ago and it hasnt effected hip hop. Whether they ban it in stores or not music WILL be heard on the internet and like someone stated you will have more people selling mixtapes and stuff out the trunk of their car (which is how most rappers started out anyway) Hip hop does not NEED stores...if people want it they can find it. take porn for example. you cant find porn at blockbuster but through the internet it is still a billion dollar enterprise.If people want it they will get it.

Had you lived during an era where profanity was not allowed you could better understand how it can be better. Trust me it was.

You keep talking about when profanity wasn't allowed..you keep forgetting that it obviousy didnt work b/c we dont live in those times any more and th only thing i envision when people say the 40's through the 70's isntanything peaceful, it involves bariking dogs, guns and waterhoses (im not trying to go off on a tangent but thats the truth) Things were not that peaceful back then..that was just an ILLUSION due to censorship


Had you lived during an era where profanity was not allowed you could better understand how it can be better. Trust me it was.

Have you ever noticed how most violence is brought on by the use of profanity? Do not use it and talking civil will go a long way at least it did back in the 40s through the 60s and early 70s.

[edit on 4/30/2007 by ImpliedChaos]